The Best Travel Credit Cards 2019

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Owning one of the best travel credit cards can help you travel more often in 2019. You can use a large signup or welcome bonus to book an upcoming trip. Then you can maximize each future purchase by earning rewards points that you redeem at your favorite airline or hotel loyalty program.

Whether you travel for personal reasons, business reasons, are new to award travel, or are a seasoned veteran, below are the best travel credit cards you should consider.

As a new cardholder, you can also earn 60,000 bonus points worth $750 in award travel after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening. You also earn unlimited 2 points per $1 on all travel and dining spending. You won’t pay foreign transaction fees on this card either.

Best Premium Travel Credit Cards

Chase Sapphire Reserve

The Chase Sapphire Reserve®earns the valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points. You receive a 50% travel redemption bonus when booking award travel through Chase. Or, you can transfer your points on a 1:1 basis to airline and hotel travel partners including Southwest, United, Marriott, and World of Hyatt.

Key card benefits include:

50,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening (worth up to $750 in award travel)

$300 annual travel credit

Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership

Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee reimbursement

3x points on dining purchases

3x points on travel immediately after earning your $300 travel credit

1x points on all remaining purchases

If you like flexibility in earning and redeem rewards points, the Sapphire Reserve is one of the best options.

Platinum Card from American Express

When you want a card to maximize air travel, get The Platinum Card® from American Express. You earn an impressive 5x points per $1 on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel. You can also earn 5x points per $1 on prepaid hotels (hotel booked and paid in advance) booked on amextravel.com. Plus, you can enjoy 1:1 point transfers to airlines like Delta, British Airways, and Emirates.

New cardmembers can also earn 60,000 bonus Membership Rewards® Points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening (worth $600 in award travel).

This card offers lots of air travel benefits that improve your flight experience:

$200 airline fee credit

Free access to airport lounge networks including The Centurion, Priority Pass, and Delta Sky Club

Free Global Entry or TSA PreCheck

$200 in annual Uber ride credits

The earning and redemption options aren’t as flexible as the Chase Sapphire Reserve. But, if you prefer award air travel benefits to flexibility, the American Express Platinum can be the better card.

Best Travel Credit Card Without An Annual Fee

Wells Fargo Propel American Express® Card (Expired)

The information related to Wells Fargo Propel American Express® Card has been collected by Johnny Jet and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product or service.

In addition to the 30,000 points welcome bonus when you spend $3,000 in purchases in 3 months (worth $300), you also earn unlimited 3x points on these purchases:

Dining

Gas, rideshares, and transit

Flights, Hotels, Homestays, and Car Rentals

Popular streaming services (that are eligible)

While you won’t get the premium travel benefits that come with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the Propel offers similar purchase rewards earning and redemption values.

Best Travel Credit Cards for Business

Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card

The Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Cardoffers the most valuable Ultimate Rewards signup bonus. It’s worth up to $1,000 in award travel. To earn it, you must spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening. Plus you also enjoy 1:1 points transfers and a 25% Chase travel redemption bonus.

Consider the Ink Business Preferred if you want to earn 3x per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases in the following categories each account anniversary year:

Travel

Shipping Purchase

Internet, Phone, and Cable Services

Search Engine and Social Media Advertising

After maxing the 3x point per $1 spent, it is 1 point per $1.

Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card

For a no annual fee business credit card, the Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Cardlets you earn bonus points on select purchases. You can redeem your points for cash or travel rewards. Unlike the Ink Business Preferred, you don’t get a travel redemption bonus or 1:1 point transfers. But, you can pair this with the Preferred to pool your points and earn bonus points on more purchases.

You earn 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases each account anniversary year. This includes at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services.

You also earn 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at either gas stations or restaurants each account anniversary year. All remaining purchases earn an unlimited 1 point per $1 spent.

Best Travel Credit Cards for Airline Purchases

United℠ Explorer Card

United Airlines is a popular carrier for domestic and global routes simply because of the sheer number of destinations. They are also one of the few carriers to still offer fixed mileage award flights and not charge fuel surcharges on long haul flights. The United℠ Explorer Card is offering a signup bonus of 40,000 miles.

Besides this signup bonus, you can enjoy these benefits:

2x miles on United purchases, restaurants, and hotels

Free Global Entry or TSA PreCheck

Free first checked bag for you and one travel companion

Two one-time United Club passes at account opening and each card anniversary

Best Travel Credit Cards for Hotels

These two hotel credit card can be a win-win as you’ll earn hotel loyalty points with each purchase. Plus, you get a free hotel night award each card anniversary.

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card

The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card lets you capture the recent excitement of the Marriott Rewards program merging with the Starwood Preferred Guest program. The new Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card is replacing the current premium Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card.

Silver Elite benefits mean you can enjoy free in-room premium Wi-Fi at Marriott Bonvoy properties. You also get 10% bonus points on stays, priority late checkout, and no blackout dates on free night awards. You also have access to exclusive experiences.

There’s also a limited time offer that comes with the ability to earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months of travel.

By getting the Bonvoy, you can enjoy these benefits:

Automatic Silver Elite status

15 Elite Night Credits

1 Free Night Award (each card anniversary)

No foreign transaction fee

You also earn unlimited 6x points at 6,700+ participating Marriott Rewards® and SPG®hotels. All remaining purchases earn 2 points per $1 spent. Check out the other new Marriott Bonvoy credit cards here.

World of Hyatt Credit Card

While World of Hyatt isn’t the largest hotel rewards program, they offer low-cost reward nights for their properties. For their most upscale properties, you pay a very reasonable 40,000 points per night.

2x points on dining, airfare purchased directly from the airline, local transit, and fitness clubs and gyms

No foreign transaction fee

Summary of the Best Travel Credit Cards

For this list of the best travel credit cards of 2019, the Ink Business Cash is the only card that charges a foreign transaction fee. As a tradeoff, you don’t pay an annual fee and you earn highly valuable rewards points. The Southwest credit cards also come with that sweet Companion Pass that you can earn.

My advice is to plan ahead. Decide how you want to use one of these best travel credit cards. With the right planning and budgeting, you can enjoy a travel-filled 2019.

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Editorial Note: The editorial content on this page is not provided by any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

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Advertiser Disclosure: Most of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which JohnnyJet.com receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). JohnnyJet.com does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers. Our advertiser partners include Chase, American Express, Citibank, and Barclaycard.

Editorial Note: The editorial content on this page is not provided by any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of the bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.